One Year Experiencing God's Presence Devotional taken from Chris Tiegreen's book

3. Chris
Tiegreen

4. Psalm 139:3-4 NLT
3 You see me when I travel and
when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to
say even before I say it, Lord.

5. Question:
“If you could ask God
any question, what
would you like to
know?”

6. Hal Seed, pastor of New Song
Community Church along with Dan
Grider, in their book “The God
Questions” gave the members of our
church an assignment:
Ask your neighbors, “If you could
ask God any question, what would
you like to know?”

7. The “Why is there suffering?”
question won hands down. “If God
is all-knowing, then He is aware
of everything that goes on. If He
is all-powerful, then He can
prevent or correct anything bad.
And if
He is completely loving, then He
cares about everything that goes
on. So, why is there suffering in

8. Chris Tiegreen in his book said,
“Where was God?
That’s the question we often ask
when we find ourselves in a
predicament – even a self-
inflicted one. We expect a certain
amount of protection from danger
in our circumstances and our
relationships.

9. Chris Tiegreen in his book said,
…When path has taken excruciating
turns and we end up in extreme
hardship or we wonder why we
weren’t better protected. Even
when we know the blame is ours, we
wish, for the sake of ourselves
and others, that we had been
spared from our own decisions.”

10. To blame means “to find
fault with.”
And to blame God is to say
that He messed up, that
there is a fault to be found
in Him.
We made ourselves judge and
jury.

11. Isaiah 45:9 NASB
“Woe to the one who quarrels
with his Maker—A piece of
pottery among the other
earthenware pottery pieces!
Will the clay say to the
potter, ‘What are you doing?’
Or the thing you are making
say, ‘He has no hands’?

12. So, to help avoid blaming God,
there are two things that we
need to look into:
1.We need to understand
why heartache and pain
are a part of our lives.

13. “The culprit or the
root of every harsh and
evil act is nothing
more but SIN.”

14. God did not design the human body or
soul to live in a sinful world. We
were created perfectly to dwell in a
perfect world (Gen. 1—2). But the
sin of Adam brought devastation and
disaster into God’s perfect world.
That even hurricanes, tornadoes,
earthquakes, droughts—ultimately,
all natural disasters are here
because of sin (Gen. 3:17–19).

15. So, to help avoid blaming God,
there are two things that we
need to look into:
2. We need to constantly
examine our own
relationship with God.

16. It is puzzling that many
people who never give God a
thought while doing their
own thing become very
religious when disaster
strikes. They live for
themselves 99 percent of the
time, as if there were no

17. But then tragedy strikes,
and suddenly it is God’s
fault. Not only is this
irrational, but it is
insulting to the Creator,
who has already given us
everything we need to have a
relationship with Him.

18. When you have a right
relationship with God,
instead of blaming Him,
Christians can run to Him
for comfort
(Proverbs 18:10; Psalm
34:18).

19. Proverbs 18:10 NASB
The name of the Lord is a
strong tower; The righteous
runs into it and is safe.

20. Psalm 34:18 NASB
The Lord is near to the
brokenhearted and saves
those who are crushed in
spirit.

21. Chris Tiegreen added,
“The good news is that God was
present in every twist and turns
we made. He knew them ahead of
time. If He gave a promise or a
calling and we think we blew it,
we can remind ourselves that He
already accounted for our missteps
when He promised or called.

22. Chris Tiegreen added,
…Our faults were considered in
advance and He chose, called
and promised anyway. He who
sees both the beginning and the
end simultaneously did not make
a mistake.”

23. In essence, nothing can
thwart God’s plan for you
and me except – UNBELIEF AND
REBELLION.

24. Hebrews 3:12 NASB
Take care, brothers and
sisters, that there will not
be in any one of you an
evil, unbelieving heart that
falls away from the living
God.

25. Unbelief is evidently an evil
state of the heart. It has the
capacity to turn people away
from God that even after people
have seen and experience His
miracles in their lives, if
they allow unbelief to creep
into their hearts, they will
find themselves cut off from

26. Eventually, unbelief leads
to rebellion against God.
That is what happened to the
Israelites (Hebrews 3:16-
19).

27. Other than these two, which
is mainly our choosing and
doing, nothing can stop
God’s calling for your life.